Posted in: General-
Aug 05, 2009
Yesterday, Solomon, my youngest son received hearing aids. He is almost a year old. It was so exciting to see him look around with sensory curiosity and overload of all these new sounds. He looked around the room constantly looking for the first confirmation of who/what was making the new sound he was hearing. Then, last night I was holding him and playing for him some cinematic movie scores and other songs for him to hear. It was fun to watch him pause his squirmy ways to take in a fuller sound than he’s heard to date.
How often do you get to watch people hear? I wouldn’t have traded that moment for anything else. It was a lot of fun and Sarah and I both are so happy with and for him. In those few moments I wasn’t hearing with my ear, I was watching him hear in new ways. Thanks for hearing aids and technologies that help our bodies.
Posted in: choral conducting-
Jul 02, 2009
I am working on compiling a supplemental hymnal of sorts for our church pews. It involves me re-engraving older hymns and chants that are out of print in some cases. It has been a great exercise for me personally. I find that some of the great hymns and psalms are on my lips and the tunes are in my head in new ways that weren’t there before. Something that we deal with is trying to incorporate songs in our local church’s worship that has appropriate words and music. That means that we want to sing songs that are pleasing to the Lord. So, we try to sing the words that we have–the Bible, the Psalms mainly. Whether that be in a hymn form or in straight Psalm singing, we are constantly trying to find a good medium of that.
The rub comes in when you try to figure out what to sing. We want to sing vigorously and with energy. Where appropriate, we want to sing in four-parts. We want the music to not be sappy or trendy. We don’t want the music that we sing in worship to just be a knockoff of a pop music song. We aren’t try to cause people to have a “romantic encounter” with Jesus. We want to worship the Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) the best way we can according to what we can understand that he wants. We look to the Bible for that. So, we won’t be singing songs that are designed to save people. We sing songs that proclaim to greatness of our Lord. We sing songs that remind us of who we are and what we are to be doing. We are the Lord’s army and we gather in worship each, not to be a part of a circus show or performance in surround sound and high definition. We come to worship and commune with the God of Abraham, the God of our Parents, and the God of our Children to come after us. So, our music has to fall in line with this vision. Music is truly a wonderful thing and we are trying to use it in wholesome ways. We don’t for one minute shy away from it because it is being done badly or poorly. We want to use it as best we can.
So, my task is to work with the leadership of our church to come up with a supplemental hymnal that includes some of the great songs that have been written long ago and some more modern songs and chants. We are doing this with our congregation in mind. We want to be able to sing the best songs that we can, even if they aren’t in the hymnals we have in our pews currently.
Posted in: General-
Jun 20, 2009
Well, 25 years on earth. The Lord has blessed me with a great family that includes my wife, Sarah, two sons Arthur and Solomon. I have loving parents and in-laws. We are in a good Church and I am doing a lot of the things I love. I try to figure what it is that is my right combination of “work things to go with being a husband and father. It has been an interesting and exciting 25 years. I pray that I can see several more of these 25 year reflections.
Posted in: General-
Mar 24, 2009
I was thinking… in school we were taught that if a country or government had “republic” in the title then most likely they were not a republic at all or even a true democracy in most cases. You think about the “People’s Republic of China” or the “United Socialist Soviet Republic.” These are examples of this point.
It seems like this might have a parallel with being “Catholic.” If you were to stand up in a crowd and yell, “I’m Catholic,” the majority of the people would understand that to mean you are a member of the Roman Catholic Church. The word has a broader meaning than that. To be “catholic” has long meant to be ecumenical or part of the whole body of believers in Jesus Christ. The irony is that the Roman Catholic Church is not catholic with a “small c.” To be Catholic is to be under the authority of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. It is a very narrow definition that leaves little or no room for other believers and followers of Jesus Christ. That is antithetical to being catholic “with a small c.”
We worship the same God, Son, and Holy Spirit and we should be able to commune at the same communion table. We should accept each other’s baptisms. We should pray with and for one another. There are substantive differences between Protestants and the Roman church. I am not attacking or condemning. I’m happy to continue to dialogue about how to understand scripture and what it means to be Christ’s Church. All the while, I’m not saying we should roll over and act as if there are not problems that must be addressed between the two branches of the Church. There are problems and errors. Where we are in error, we protestants must repent just as we call for continued repentance and faithfulness from our Roman catholic brothers/sisters. This must be done within the parameters of Christ’s Church, though.
I do consider my Roman brothers and sisters just that, Brothers and Sisters in Christ. We need more catholicity that is holy and true. After all, Protestants and Roman Catholics are part of that “holy catholic and apostolic church.” This can happen and it means that we must sharpen each other so that we can do the kingdom work that we both labor in daily. We don’t want it to be said that we are sectarian, nor do we want it to be said that we don’t stand on biblical principles either. We must better strive to find the balance that is being catholic “with a small c.”
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